May 24, 2016

A San Diego, California, workers’ compensation attorney pleaded guilty today in the Western District of Missouri to one count of filing a false tax return, Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson of the Western District of Missouri announced.

According to court documents, Ron Mix, 78, entered into an arrangement where he received professional athlete referrals from a non-attorney so Mix and his law firm, the Law Offices of Ron Mix, could file workers’ compensation claims in California on the former athletes’ behalf. After receiving these referrals, Mix agreed to make donations to Project Contact Africa (PCA), as directed by the non-attorney. Mix admitted that between 2010 and 2013, he made approximately $155,000 in donations to PCA and that these payments represented illegal referral payments that he falsely claimed on his personal income tax return as charitable deductions.

U.S. District Court Judge Greg Kays for the Western District of Missouri has not yet scheduled Mix’s sentencing. Mix faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Dickinson commended special agents of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, who investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick Daly and Curt Bohling of the Western District of Missouri and Trial Attorney Ryan Raybould of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’swebsite.